GUV TRIES POLITICS OF VIOLENCE   

5/7/2008

Capitol Fax

Rich Miller

One of the problems with the Statehouse lately is that everything seems to be a rerun.  The Senate and the House are fighting. The governor and the House are fighting.  The governor's trying to close a prison to put AFSCME on the defensive.  Everything old is new again.  All we need now is another Committee of the Whole from House Speaker Michael Madigan to really complete things.

Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) was angry about another rerun yesterday.  The governor held a rally with African-American ministers on Chicago's West Side to demand that the General Assembly create a $150 million anti-violence plan that includes money to "revitalize neighborhoods," purchase police equipment and create a summer jobs program for 20,000 kids.  The programs would be funded by the capital plan.  The rally at times focused on Speaker Madigan and Mayor Daley, and not in a very kind light.

Sen. Meeks said it was clear to him that Blagojevich was trying once again to use the Chicago clergy to divide minority legislators in the House against Madigan - as the guv did last year with his health care proposals.  Meeks added he was upset that, yet again, Blagojevich had not tried to build a consensus with legislators first - minority and white - before unveiling his plan (which was reportedly cooked up by some rank and file members) at a splashy news conference.  The Senator, who is the pastor of one of the state's largest congregations, said he had made his feelings known to the Blagojevich administration and Senate President Emil Jones, and added that he suggested to House Black Caucus members that they not support the proposal for now.

Sen. Meeks wasn't the only upset person yesterday.  Sen. Rickey Hendon was one of the featured speakers at the rally, and he slammed Mayor Daley's anti-violence proposals as inadequate.  Hendon is not exactly the mayor's favorite legislator, and Daley shot back that the governor's proposal didn't have a realistic source.  "Tell Mike Madigan we need this money!" Hendon also yelled to the crowd, which responded with loud applause.

Chicago has been hit by a nasty wave of violence in recent weeks.  Dozens of people have been shot and several killed in a shocking spree of gang violence.  Blagojevich has been mostly silent until yesterday, and his proposal was unveiled in the traditional manner - lots of flash and claims that his ideas are superior to everyone else's.  It's an all too familiar story line for Meeks and many others at the Statehouse. 

Meanwhile, the House Democrats met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the capital plan.  According to numerous sources, the sentiment was pretty much unanimous that a capital plan is desperately needed, but that nobody trusts the governor to equitably distribute the money. 

Speaker Madigan also distributed a summary of the leaders and staff meetings on the capital plan, and things look kinda grim. 

According to the summary, there is nothing even close to an agreement on a funding source for the capital plan.  Senate President Emil Jones has apparently moved away from gaming expansion (because, he says, the House won't pass a plan), cigarette tax hikes and driver's license fee increases and has suggested funding the program with an income tax increase, which would be completely unacceptable to Blagojevich.  The House Democrats are still willing to try gaming expansion (although getting Jones and Blagojevich to agree to a strict ethics proposal has been nearly impossible) and say they have some support in the caucus for a "modest" income tax increase.  The House and Senate Republicans are against any income tax hike, and the House Republicans are still open to leasing the Lottery and state-owned casinos.  The Senate Repubs have reportedly proposed using the "windfall" from record high gasoline tax receipts to help fund the capital plan as well as "ending diversions" from the state's Road Fund.  Like I said, they're not even on the same page.

The summary handed out to House Democrats indicates that the governor has agreed to memoranda of understanding on capital projects and creating a "lockbox" to ensure that the money raised is spent only on capital. But the House Democrats are mostly unconvinced that Blagojevich will follow through on any of his promises.  After last year's disaster on the vetoed budget and everything else, there is absolutely no trust in this governor, even though his allies claim that he has followed through on every memorandum of understanding he's ever signed. 

An idea has surfaced again that would have the state comptroller and treasurer dole out the capital project money instead of the governor.  One of the outside negotiators brought in by Gov. Blagojevich to help move the process along said yesterday that he thinks the governor might be open to that idea in order to make the capital plan a reality, but it was uniformly and unanimously shot down by Blagojevich aides and insiders yesterday.  The governor may want a capital plan, but not that much. 

According to the summary, Senate President Jones is still not sure that the other legislative leaders (most likely Madigan) really want a capital plan, which indicates that they're pretty much still at Square One in the trust department.  Jones also is reported to have said that he "doesn't want to be here all summer working on this."  He may not get his wish.